IT Staff Convention 2008:Hiring: Finding the Right Person for the Job

From Provider Notes

Hiring: Finding the Right Person for the Job

Moderator: Michael Herzog, School of Medicine

Notes: Cynthia Kwan, Vet School

Sample Section Heading--type over me...

Pool of Candidates

How to get the pool larger? Some are getting 50-75. Some posted the position externally.

Where do you post? And is it successful? -Ad in the inquirer -Monster -Craigslist -Educause – not too successful -Careerbuilder

Internal Candidates

Not the same pool internally. Hr job site difficult to work through – from both perspectives (candidates and employer). Because of this it is possible people stop using it the way it is expected.

It was recommended that schools should have their Dean talk to Human Resources (Either the Executive Vice President or the Vice President). If enough people say something they will do something.

It is recommended to really target the audience. Fro example, posted on the School of Education Post Doctorate list for someone that is good at database AND analysis. The search engine at the Penn HR website is too wide range.

Is there a way to really customize the job description so that it is easier to read through.

Weeding through the candidates Some ignore resumes that are 3-4 pages long. Some value the cover letter some do not. There is a 50/50 chance you'll find a good candidate when looking at the cover letter. One process is to quickly read and separate the good. Phone interviews on performed for the applications that stand out. From those phone interviews a handful of candidates are brought in for an interview.

One problem that has occurred is that interviewees have already been interviewed by other colleagues at the same school (but different groups) or other schools on campus. → If you speak with HR they might be able to have applicants cross referenced among schools or positions. HR can flag candidates who regularly apply for the same job and are not successful.

Do more people tend to view ISC before looking at other schools? Some good candidates are passed over by ISC.

Interviews Typical questions for phone interview:

How much money do you want? What are they doing now? What are their current responsibilities? What would you like to do? What do you think you’re applying for.

Need to rely on some intuition for phone interviews.

Do you then look at the application for the figure? Consider that: They may be interested in the benefits. Some people don’t perform well over the phone. Face to face interaction is important. Make sure that you are consistent. This is a legal issue.

Do you put some candidates through the testing process? I.e db design problem, network, For Help Desk ask them to describe how to tie your shoes.

Good questions to ask in interviews:

Where do you fit when solving problems, quick and dirty or slow and careful? What’s been your biggest crisis? Strength and weakness? Ask a question you know they do not know the answer to. Character over technical ability What’s their problem solving abilities? Give an example of an interaction of a client that didn’t go well. What’s the worst thing that you can do in this job? -- lose data. Focus on simple riddles. Listen to hear them work through the problem

Evaluating the Candidate How to deal with experience that is non-standard. i.e, Someone who is a CIO of a start-up and then looking for a help desk function. how do you evaluate them?

Why do people want to do desktop support for 10+ years? Do people like this exist? Not really With their prior experience how to they respond to what they need to do. Do they relate to you in the way they need to do their job here?

Pay attention to work history. Is there jumping around – see what the story is. If it fits it might not be so bad.

Internal candidates. Can you break them from their old school? At Wharton people move around internally. Would like to have more from other schools at the University. Important to know about the Organization they are applying to? does their current organization have a reputation?. If they apply to many internal then there might be a problem with where they are currently .

Reference Process -Internal reference process – if you can’t get stellar references out of the references given to you then there is an issue. -The current supervisor is given to you by default. -Ask 'what you would like to tell me about this person.' -If it’s a good reference they will talk about the person and wax poetic. -If they are short and terse then that‘s a sign. -If you call and they say that’s my best person that’s a slam dunk.

Red flags? -If they don’t say much. -Make sure to pay attention to criminal record.

Background check policy - HR outsources this process to a vendor. It appears that they don’t really follow up.

SOM has lengthen process. Don’t choose any candidate solo. At least two sometimes three rounds of interviews. Faculty is sometimes included in the processes. They tend to try technical questions they shouldn’t be asking. Be careful about which faculty you choose. They might turn the candidate off. Important to find out if you can work well with this person.

Evaluation Period

Managing the evaluation period - if it’s not working out so well move them on. You can push the issue with HR. HR prefers to have documentation. Documentation is for backing yourself up in case they are sued.

Make sure the documentation for the probationary period is signed. This allows more flexibility for letting them go. But don’t arbitrarily get rid of someone. You need to acknowledge if the reason is legitimate. Ask yourself what would happen if this was outside the evaluation period. If you can’t make it through your introduction period with out issues then outside the evaluation period things will be worse. Use the intro period to see what you've got. Performance management – you can skip or omit any part of the performance management. Are you certain it’s the right thing.

Some schools use 1000 hour positions to get to a full time. It’s a risk for the employee – no benefits.

Positions that are difficult to hire for: -those that are highly technical in a specific field. -LSP

Link to article within Provider Notes IT Staff Convention 2008: Session Overviews

Link to article on a website external to Provider Notes External Link